The Unknown Ranger
by blindsniper33
Summary: The death of one man ignites the flames of revolution. NCR remnants now battle the Legion controlled Mojave, fighting for the ideals they believe in.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout.**

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**Prologue**

"Sir, the dam will be ours in the matter of minutes," Vulpes Inculta informed Lanius, the new face of the Legion. Caesar had been dealt with weeks prior to the second battle. Lanius took a much different approach to leadership, preferring to actually be in combat rather than sit behind his soldiers like a coward.

"And what of the Courier?" Lanius' voice carried a force that could shatter mountains. He searched through a pile of NCR weaponry, grabbing several clips for an assault rifle. The NCR had been no more than a minor nuisance, less of a bear and more of an insect.

"He and his men are breaking through the NCR garrison at Camp Mccarran as we speak," Vuples answered, "Then we shall march on to New Vegas?" He asked his commander.

"Yes, New Vegas is nothing to me," Lanius admitted, the dam was top priority, "We shall make our way to the dam now."

"But, my lord, the Omertas-" Vuples began.

"They die. Kill the Omertas, the Tops, the White Gloves, the Gomorrah," Lanius ordered, "Send word; kill all of the New Vegas residents."

"My lord, must we kill all of the residents? Not all of them need to die," Vuples tried to reason with his new leader.

Lanius chuckled, "For all your apparent experience, you are still very naive," His words carried much insult to Vulpes, who was one of Caesar's most trusted advisers.

Vuples swallowed his anger, "What of prisoners?" He calmly asked.

"Take no prisoners," Lanius simply replied, unsheathing his sword as he walked out of the tent. He set out for the dam, wanting Olvier's blood to be spilled by his blade. He was the Monster of the East, and he shall be the one to kill the King of the West.

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Camp Mccarran was a disaster, the artillery shells hit the installation every second. Casualties were heavy, more dead than wounded, more wounded than alive. The airport that the camp was based around was destroyed, the only chance for survival was to continually run to cover. Morale was nonexistent, the New California Republic troopers were no longer soldiers, it was every man for himself. Groups of NCR troopers ran from cover to cover, trying to find a more permanent location to stay. With each artillery round that was fired, more men and women died. The ground was soaked in the blood of the bear.

Colonel Hsu had been hit by a direct strike, becoming a thin, red mist in the matter of microseconds. With no leadership, the ranks fell apart, Rangers were being trampled by troopers, First Recon were being used as human shields, their weapons had been abandoned, save for a few.

"Keep firing the munitions until we run dry!" The Courier yelled above the firing of the cannons, "When we storm the camp, we want no survivors!" He raised his fist to the cannon crews who let out quick battle cries. The Courier had recently been named Centurion, being in charge of his own Cohort. He did not have his entire Cohort at Camp Mccarran however, as he did not think four hundred and eighty men were needed for such a trivial task. He took along only a single Centuriae, with another Centuriae for support.

The Courier simply sat on a nearby pipe, watching the battle unfold, explosions and screaming filled his ears, "What a joyous day," He muttered to himself. He did not like the direction Lanius was taking the Legion. Instead of fighting for the greater good, he was corrupting the once pure empire. Once the West has fallen, who knows where the Legion will spread? North? South? Farther East? He had heard of an entire country to the north, so that would be the right way to go.

His only hope is that the Legion doesn't act like the NCR as it grows, less imperialistic, less hungry. The Legion will easily be able to defend the cities and states it conquers. The new citizens needn't worry.

"We're out of shells!" One artillery crew ripped the Courier from his thoughts. Several other crews shouted about their absence of ammunition. Only a couple of cannons fired continuously, making sure the bombardments never stopped. The artillery began to slow down to a halt. The artillery no longer spat shells towards the base. New Vegas was eerily quiet.

"Alright, men, line up!" The Courier ordered his men to form their battle formation. When the formation had been complete, he quickly inspected his troops, "We march on to Mccarran!" He unsheathed his sword and pointed towards the base.

The Fiends were originally supposed to take care of this worthless camp, but the NCR had taken out several key leaders in the gang. Eighty troops are more than enough to take the camp, even if no NCR died in the barrages.

The survivors of the onslaught hid among the wreckage of the former base, hoping to escape the Legion's new grasp. The destroyed airport housed many of the troops, some of the soldiers were armed with 9mm pistols and knifes. Most were unarmed, however, their strength in numbers was still present. About one hundred soldiers were alive, hiding in the remnants of Mccarran airport.

"What are we going to do?" One trooper asked as she frantically looked about the war zone. Only a handful of whispers emitted from the degraded troops.

One veteran ranger turned to her, his armor heavily damaged, "We'll fight them until Hell freezes over," He carefully loaded his Sequoia, "Then we'll fight them on the ice," With a click, his revolver was ready to take a Legion life.

The metal door to the base blasted open as hordes of Legion troops filled into the southern half of installation, "Any NCR personnel, surrender now and you will be spared!" The Courier's false words fell on deaf ears, "Don't make me find you!" He yelled towards the opposing troopers once more, waiting for a reply, "That's it! You all are going to-" He stopped as a lone veteran ranger arose from the wreckage.

The Centuriae and NCR watched as the ranger stepped out, both sides simply observing. The ranger stood in place, his hand firmly gripping his Sequoia, "For the Republic," He muttered to himself as he began a brisk walk towards the eighty legionaries.

"Halt!" The Courier ordered, but the ranger continued his march, "If you do not stop, we will kill you!" The Courier raised his voice once more, the legionaries stood in awe as they watched the lone ranger.

Without warning, the ranger began shooting at the Centuriae, each shot finding itself in a squad commander. The legionaries started stepping back as the ranger continued to unload upon them, "What are you doing!?" The Courier looked at his forces on the brink of retreating, "Open fire!"

The Legion troops obeyed and began firing their rifles, missing the ranger with each volley. The ranger reloaded his revolver and sent five more rounds and killing five more troops. Even as they carefully aimed, they could not hit the man walking towards them. The ranger was now close enough to kill two legionaries with one bullet, doing so multiple times.

One bullet finally embedded itself into the ranger's left arm, but he shrugged it off and continued to walk. Another click sounded followed by five gunshots and five bodies dropping. The Courier started fire himself, his bullets closer than his troops, but he only scored one hit. The bullet tor through the ranger's leg causing him to kneel from the pain catching up to him. With a good sixty troops firing on him, they finally filled his body full of holes.

A recruit fired another shot to the ranger's head to be sure of death, "Finally, we got rid of that degenerate," He rose his hand to celebrate, but the Courier forced it back down.

"No, no... The NCR will view his death as heroic, they will sing songs about this day," He said to the recruit.

The female trooper watched as the ranger finally met his end, she felt an odd morale boost; she felt invincible. She arose from the base too, so did many others, rangers and troopers alike. The Courier watched as the crowd of NCR regrouped at the opposite end of the base, his eyes filled of fear. The rest of his Centuriae fumbled with their weapons as the enemy horde grew.

The female soldier looked towards the Centuriae, "The Republic and liberty, now and forever, one and inseparable!" She raised a fist as she called out, the rest of the battered soldiers followed suit. The legionaries took a couple steps back from the uproar, some dropping their weapons and running.

"Ave, true to Lanius!" The Courier countered the enemy roar, "Men, open fire! Cleanse the Wasteland of these vile creatures!" The rows of legionaries fired once more, a hail of bullets hitting the newly formed NCR line.

The troopers that survived the first volley started sprinting towards their Legion adversaries, some firing off pistols as they ran. NCR troopers fell as bullets tore through them during the charge, thinning out the ranks. The Courier himself fell backwards as the NCR continued to relentlessly close the gap, they let out an almost inhuman war cry. The legionaries began running towards the NCR when the gap was almost nonexistent. A massive hand-to-hand battle engulfed the base. The NCR troopers were taking massive amounts of physical damage before dying mid fight. The Courier stood in awe as a single NCR trooper took out six legionaries with a simple kitchen knife, taking multiple high-caliber rounds while doing so before finally dropping.

What ever bullets that were left in the troopers' pistols were unloaded into the Legion forces. Screams emitted from both sides as the battle ensued, there was no clear winner. Skulls were being brutally smashed in from pistol-whipping, necks were being sliced open from dull knifes, and bodies were dropping from the occasional gunfire. Rangers used their superior hand-to-hand combat skills, easily dispatching Legion recruits. The Courier finally regained his posture, the first thing he saw was the blur of a gun butt flying at him. This was also his last as he was knocked unconscious.

Despite the inactive Courier, the fight still raged on. Scores of Legion and NCR bodies littered the area as the sound of clashing swords and knives filled the air. Without a effective leader, the legionaries fell apart, most running away from the battle. Things began turning, the NCR outnumbered the Legion greatly, the legionaries were on full defense. For every trooper they killed, it seemed as if two more took his place, even from the ashes of Camp Mccarran. The Legion fought hard, but the NCR were fighting harder, with a newly discovered sense of survival among the ranks.

"Fall back!" One recruit took charge of the battered Centuriae. This had finally broke the legionaries down; the long-awaited retreat call. Even if it was from a recruit, it was still an excuse to get out of the Hell-hole. Few legionaries escaped unharmed as the NCR took potshots at the fleeing enemies.

The camp was silent once more, not a single word was spoken. The wind carved its way throughout the newly reformed base, emitting a high-pitched blowing, "We did it!" The silence was broken by a First Recon member. The rest of the personnel cheered as they had effectively turned the tide of the war with the destruction of the Courier's unit. Now, all they could do is pray that the rest of the Army holds up their end.

The base was a jungle, troopers stood on rubble cheering for their victory. Despite the success of the attack, it was still chaos. Although, this chaos wasn't so terrifying, it actually gave the troopers something to finally be proud about. They had defeated an entire armed Centuriae with nothing more than a few pistols and their bare hands.

"Ugh..." The Courier began to stir, several troopers noticed this. His normally pristine Centurion armor was now dirtied with blood and powder.

"Hey! We got a live one!" One of the troopers announced to the rest of the personnel, "What should we do?"

The female trooper who started this mini-rebellion walked to the Courier's paralyzed form, "You should have chosen the NCR," She spat on him, "But you know that now, don't you?" She picked the Courier up by his hair in one hand and in the other she held a combat knife. Extending her arms as far apart as she could, she faced the crowd, who cheered at the motion. Using the small blade, she decapitated the Courier in one cut, holding up his head for all the surviving troopers to see. The crowd went ballistic, demanding she throw it over the wall for all of the Legion to witness. She was more that happy to oblige.

"For the NCR!" One trooper called out in the crowd. Her voice booming over the rest.

"For freedom!" The rest followed.


End file.
